Weekend Cooking: Clinton St. Baking Company Cookbook
DeDe Lahman and Neil Kleinberg own a thirty-two seat restaurant, Clinton St. Baking Company & Restaurant, in New York City. The food is so good people come from all over to stand in line to get inside. Many of the restaurant’s regulars have begged for their recipes, so they’ve created a wonderful new cookbook, Clinton St. Baking Company Cookbook: Breakfast, Brunch and Beyond. The recipes are divided into Biscuits, Muffins & Scones, Pancakes, Soups, The Sandwich King & Queen, Fried Chicken, Sides, Condiments, Dessert, and Drinks, and I have to tell you, every single recipe in this book looks great. I love that restaurant tricks, common mistakes, and notes are included with recipes when appropriate, and I learned that there are times I should be using the convection feature on my oven. There are lots of gorgeous color photographs included, but there isn’t one for each recipe.
I decided to try the pumpkin cheesecake recipe for our Thanksgiving dessert and it was declared a winner. It had the texture of a New York style cheesecake and turned out beautifully. The instructions were clear and easy to follow. I was very pleased with the results and plan to try several other recipes, including Maple Walnut Cookies, Hash Browns, and Buttermilk Streusel Coffee Cake.
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Makes one 10-inch cake
Graham cracker crust
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
Cheesecake batter
1½ cups (three 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sour cream, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon allspice
pinch of ground ginger
pinch of ground cloves
1 cup pumpkin puree, room temperature
2 tablespoons heavy cream
3 large eggs
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Coat a 10-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Make the crust: Mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and vanilla in a small bowl. Stir in the melted butter until all the ingredients are well mixed.
- Turn the crust mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly over the bottom (but not up the sides). Press down firmly to form a crust.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven and, let cool, while you start on the cheesecake batter. Turn down the oven temperature to 325ºF.
- Make the batter: In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, vanilla, and spice until smooth. Add the pumpkin puree and heavy cream and mix until well combined.
- Add the eggs one at a time, until the mixture is smooth. Do not overmix.
- Assemble the cheesecake: Pour the batter over the baked crust.
- Bake for 1 hour in a water bath.
- Turn off the oven, prop open the oven door, and allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and cool completely in the fridge overnight.
- Cut with a hot knife and serve.
Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend.
I’ll bet the cheesecake was a hit! It sounds delicious as does the streusel coffee cake. I need to look for this cookbook.
Pumpkin cheesecake….Yummy.
THANKS.
We love all breakfast baked goods in this house — muffins, scones, pancakes,etc.; looks like this might be one for me to investigate 🙂
The pumpkin cheesecake looks wonderful!
I’ve heard this will be “the” place to go at the next BEA!
I absolutely loved this cookbook! Both of the recipes I tried were terrific.
This is the second time I’ve seen a review of this one. I need to own it. And I definitely need to make an effort to visit during BEA. Mr. BFR will be thrilled to see that I now have a tested pumpkin cheesecake recipe.
Oh yumm! That cheesecake looks delicious! This book looks great for someone who digs desserts of all kinds!
I have this cookbook but haven’t read it yet. That recipe looks GOOD!
I bet the cheesecake was good! This sounds like a cookbook for me. I’m always looking for breakfast recipes.
I’ll have to be on the lookout for this one.
Natalie ;0)
The pumpkin cheesecake sounds wonderful, plus I can modify the recipe to make it gluten-free! Thanks, Kathy!
The cheese cake looks heavenly and the maple walnut cookies sound delicious!!!
This sounds like a fabulous cookbook. The cheesecake sounds awesome – of course cheesecake in any form is good to me.
If it’s got tricks and tips on when to use my convection oven I defineitely need to check this out. The pumpkin cheesecake looks sooo yummy!
Mmmmm,. no! Gotta be on a sugar diet this week 😉
Now that pumpkin cheese cake looks yummy…and I wish I would remember to use the convection part of my oven…I wanted it and have no clue when to use it.
Yum. Yum, yum, yum! This looks like an awesome cookbook!
Mmmm…I am going to see if the library has this one. Of course, it will all contribute to a bigger butt, but around the holidays you must cast these worries to the wind. I can diet in January
this sounds and looks like pure bliss!
This sounds wonderful — now! xox
I love this book-the recipes all look so good. We are in the middle of a heat wave here-93 degrees-we went out for brunch-sitting by the pool enjoying waffles, eggs and fruit.
While I don’t love pumpkin or cheesecake, Joe does.. and I love to bake. I have never heard of the cookbook before, so I am eager to get my hands on it!
The pumpkin cheesecake looks super yummy. I made the pancakes and maple butter and thought they were incredible!
I made a pumpkin cheesecake last Thanksgiving, but used a recipe from Allrecipes.com. It was ok, but nothing I would write home about. This one sounds much better, and it has your seal of approval, so this will be the one I try next time. I am glad to hear this is such a great cookbook. I may have to grab a copy for myself!
Oh, my…Pumpkin Cheesecake looks amazing!
The recipe sounds delicious and your picture is excellent.
Cheesecake is my favorite cake 🙂
Wow! I tried to make pumpkin cheesecake many years ago. I don’t think it would have been called a winner. This cookbook sounds quite good. I need to try Weekend Cooking one Saturday. 🙂
Those pancakes on the cover of that book look amazing!!
This book looks like a real winner! I think maybe my mom needs this for a Christmas gift! We love brunch at our house.
Thanks to your review I just requested this one from my library. I’m sure my waist (and my husband) will want to thank you later. lol
I realize I am going to sound stupid for asking but what is a “water bath” in relation to the baking directions of the cheesecake?
I’ve made a few things out of this cookbook and am really liking it! I think this will be a regular one in my kitchen.